Ruminations on the reading life of a communist. Looking at words through class-struggle lenses.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Yesterday in NYC: unity against racism

Yesterday's demonstration in support of Muslim people was a fantastic success. About 10,000 people filled the streets of lower Manhattan in a show of solidarity that was terrifically heartening--and that blew away the puny racist Tea Party effort two blocks over.

Photo: Greg Butterfield

New York is not a Tea Party town! New York is a union town, and there was good labor representation and many union members. New York is a multinational city, probably the most multinational city in the world, and the march and rally reflected this, with people of so many nationalities coming together to defend the sisters and brothers under attack by the capitalist-backed forces of reaction. New York is an immigrant city, and immigrants, documented and undocumented, speaking many languages, swelled the ranks. New York is an LGBT town, and as always at any progressive manifestation, there were tons of LGBT people. And so on: this was unity at its best, a joining together of communities that demonstrated to the enemy class and its duped minions that despite their worst efforts to sow racism and division, here in the most unionized, most multinational city in the country, they will not pass.

Check it out.

Photo: Greg Butterfield

Photo: Greg Butterfield

Photo: Greg Butterfield

Photo: Brenda Sandburg

Photo: Brenda Sandburg

Just for fun, here's me performing my small task yesterday: collecting donations to help pay for the costs of the event.